The Long Way Home is the tenth novel in author Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache series. Though each novel has had its own self-contained mystery, there is an intricate ongoing story that has carried through the series, major elements of which were tied up in the previous novel.

I mention this because it is my policy to be as spoiler-free in my reviews as I possibly can be while trying to give you some sense of my experience with the story. Given that this an ongoing series, it makes it nearly impossible to avoid sharing details that may reveal plot elements from earlier novels. Simply reading the advertising copy for The Long Way Home reveals the course that some of Penny’s characters have taken.

So, you’ve been warned, though I have no intention of discussing major plot points in my review.

I first met Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, his darling wife Reine-Marie, his investigative team and the odd characters who inhabit the quaint Canadian village of Three Pines a couple of years ago. At that time I devoured the first 6 novels one after the other, soon after read seven and eight, and have pounced on the last two volumes during release week.

It is safe to say I am a fan of her work. For those of you who do not want to continue after the jump, I’ll forgo further suspense by revealing that I enjoyed The Long Way Home very much. Although I felt that a few vital elements of the story were rushed in at the end, my overall experience was one of revisiting old friends that I’ve not seen since last August and reveling in our time together. Thank you, Louise Penny.

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache has retired with his wife, Reine-Marie, to Three Pines, the village they embraced many years prior when Gamache was called in to investigate a murder. This retirement comes on the heels of the climactic events of the previous novel, How The Light Gets In, in which a major story arc begun in the first novel, Still Life, was brought to a conclusion. Gamache is enjoying his time in this deceptively idyllic village, all the while attempting to heal from the many emotional and physical traumas he has experienced over the last few years of his long and storied career. But can an Inspector ever really retire?

Clara Morrow and her husband Peter had agreed on a trial separation, a year sabbatical in which Peter would go off and attempt to deal with his personal demons while they each decided if it was possible to salvage their marriage. At the end of that year, Peter was to return and he and Clara would take it from there. But the year has passed and Peter has not returned, nor has Clara heard a word from him. Though Peter was both selfish and self-centered, Clara knows that simply disappearing is not something Peter would willingly do. And so she reluctantly involves Armand Gamache, not knowing the hunt for Peter will take them all on a familiar journey, one that leads to murder.

The Long Way Home feels like a bridge novel. I offer that up as insight, not as criticism. Though Armand Gamache has left behind the job of leading Quebec’s homicide division, there was never a doubt that he would be dragged away from reading and gardening to do what he does best–investigating suspicious deaths and bringing the perpetrator(s) of those crimes to justice.

Much of The Long Way Home is an introspective look at a handful of the characters that readers have come to know and love in Penny’s novels. The characters are truly the strength of Louise Penny’s fiction and thus spending a great deal of quality time with them vs. a large amount of focus on a murder is certainly welcome. However, Penny makes certain to sow the seeds of mystery early, giving readers plenty to ponder as the story unfolds.

As any good mystery writer does, Penny makes certain to put doubt in the reader’s mind about the innocence of anyone who comes into the story. This enriches the experience by giving the reader the opportunity to engage in some guesswork along the way. In the process Penny is sure to surprise the reader with unexpected twists and turns. She certainly did that to me. By the end of the story there were several things that I had not seen coming.

Another of Penny’s strengths is the weaving of art, literature, poetry, music and history into her stories. With each successive novel I have found myself utilizing the search engine on my laptop and/or phone to look up things woven into the tale, and this book was no exception. This adds a depth to the story that I find highly enjoyable and it serves to ground the characters in a very real world.

At 373 pages, The Long Way Home is no longer, nor shorter, than it needs to be to tell a full story. That being said, I was surprised at the way in which she tied up a few of the story threads. Without going into any detail, there were some revelations from primary characters and a couple of explanations that seemed to come out of the blue given that they came so close to the end of the story and were not able to be fully examined. That full examination is another of Penny’s strengths and thus it surprised me that neither she nor her editor(s) reworked that part of the story.

Overall it is a small complaint. While The Long Way Home did not have the emotional impact of How the Light Gets In, I also did not expect it to. How could it? How the Light Gets In was the culminating chapter of a intense, gripping story that had developed over the previous eight novels. The Long Way Home is a novel that honors its title, bringing at least two of its characters, if not more, back to where they belong.

I once again feel rewarded for grabbing a copy of a Louise Penny novel and devouring it immediately upon its release. She has established herself as one of my favorite authors and I frequently recommend her fiction. And now the wait until next August, and Chief Inspector Armand Gamache’s next case, begins…

A note about the cover: I have to give the design team at Minotaur books praise. The image of the cover above does not do justice to the clever way in which this book’s cover ties in to the overall story. The chosen cover art is part of a painting by noted Canadian artist Charles Gagnon, whose work features prominently in the story. Secondly, the dust jacket has a canvas-like, tactile quality that I cannot say more about without revealing big spoilers. Suffice it to say, I got to a certain point in the book and this lovely experience of holding this book in my hand took on new significance and I immediately knew I would have to give credit when I wrote this review.

Update: Esther Bochner, Publicity Manager for Macmillan Audio, has kindly sent me a clip of the audio format for The Long Way Home. You can listen to it here. The Chief Inspector Gamache books are read by Ralph Cosham and I can attest to the fact that he is a marvelous reader. If you like an engaging audio presentation, add these books to your list.